Brainstorm: 25
Monday, 29 June 2015
By. Francis Pedraza
“Functions of a cape?”
Capes are beautiful. Dashing. Stylish. Elegant. They glide around corners, flow around bodies, and make their wearer appear to float effortlessly above the ground. I love capes. You love capes. We all love capes.
What is a superhero without a cape? What is a historical drama without lots of characters in capes?
Yet tragically, capes are extinct as a practical item of clothing. We all want to wear capes, we wish we could wear capes, but nobody wears capes. Why? Because it is fashion suicide. It would be ridiculous.
Yes, yes. But WHY?
One possible explanation has to do with form and function. Capes once had function, and the form followed function. Modern life eliminated those functions, and when all that was left was the form, it became an embellishment.
While some embellishments in fashion are permitted, this particular embellishment is so dramatic, it has become a parody of itself. For a grown man walking down 5th Avenue in Manhattan to trade his suit jacket for a cape would somehow transform him into a lanky, awkward, vitamin-d deficient, video-game-addicted, LOTR-fan teenager. That is to say, that the cape is now so associated with epic fantasy, science fiction, or historical films that only fans of such films would wear them, and fans of such films are [insert stereotypes here].
The brainstorm topic I pose today is “The Restoration of Function”:
? Can you think of ways to restore function to a defunct object, such as, in this case: a cape?
? Can you find out what the original functions of a cape were?
? Can you find exceptions to the rule: how are capes worn fashionably today, in spite of general decline?
? How might we use technology to make a cape worthy of the 21st century?
